Category Archives: Uncategorized

More than 40 years after he came home from combat, John Wayne Cloud is still walking point for fellow veterans

By Ken Olsen (Copyright 2012 / All Rights Reserved) To anyone except John Cloud, the Vietnam veteran’s case was hopeless. Johnny Pryor had gone AWOL three times, tried to kill himself twice, spent months in the stockade and was booted … Continue reading

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Seconds to Win: For nearly 60 years, Wyoming veterans have helped develop some of America’s top rodeo talent

BY KEN OLSEN (Copyright 2012, All Rights Reserved) Emily Faber steps off her galloping horse, flies to the goat, flanks it, ties its feet and steps back. Time: 8.31 seconds – one of the fastest on this 98-degree summer evening … Continue reading

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Restorative Justice: Veterans treatment courts make differences in the lives of those who served

By Ken Olsen (Copyright 2012, All Rights Reserved) Glenn Slocum faced as much as 25 years to life after his arrest in late 2010 for stealing food and diapers. The Marine Corps veteran had two previous felony convictions for robbing … Continue reading

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Rare Victory: Vietnam Navy veterans struggle to prove, and keep, Agent Orange benefits

By Ken Olsen (Copyright 2012, All Rights Reserved)  Surgeons started removing strange growths from Mark Crosbie’s body a few years after he came home from Vietnam. Over the next three decades, they took sebaceous cysts from the Navy veteran’s back, … Continue reading

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Veterans helping veterans: Disaster response team, coffee house launch Portland partnership

Team Rubicon, the innovative veterans group that has been making its mark on disaster response since the 2010 Haiti earthquake, is opening an office at the NorthStar Coffee House in Portland June 9. NorthStar will donate 5 percent of its revenue to … Continue reading

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Road to Nowhere: Returning veterans face the worst job market of their lives.

By Ken Olsen (Copyright 2012, All Rights Reserved) Kai Jorgensen was laid off just before Thanksgiving 2011, the third time the recession has cost him his job since he left the Marine Corps in May 2009. He wasn’t prepared for such … Continue reading

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A Heart Apart: Interactive book gives children, military parents safe way to share feelings about the difficulty of deployment

 By Ken Olsen (Copyright 2012, All Rights Reserved) Melissa Seligman knew she had to help her children find their emotional voices. Her daughter’s depression spiked to near self-destructive levels when her husband deployed. Her son’s anxiety was gut wrenching. “We … Continue reading

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The Hardest Year: Military Children Endure the Stress of Parent’s Deployment

By Ken Olsen (Copyright 2012, All Rights Reserved) Jack Crider hit a wall during his father’s third deployment. It wasn’t just his father’s absence, or the prospect of him dying in Iraq. It was the unexpected move, from Virginia to … Continue reading

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Richard Christian Jr., champion of Vietnam veterans in battle for Agent Orange and PTSD claims, to be buried at Arlington

By Ken Olsen (Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved) Richard S. Christian, Jr., who endured withering hostility from the Reagan Administration for his meticulous and tireless work on behalf of Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange, died of cancer at a … Continue reading

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Post-Traumatic Stress and a Traumatic Brain Injury strain a marriage

By Ken Olsen (Copyright 2011, All Rights Reserved) Some days, Tammara Rosenleaf would give anything not to be a combat veteran’s wife. She loves her husband. He is kind, generous and unflappable – the perfect contrast to her stronger, more … Continue reading

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